Comment

Comment by Eric McCormick on April 1, 2012 at 3:26pm

It is interesting comparing my life experience to the book. While you used specific examples to show the individual strengths and weaknesses, I can see how they are all somewhat related. I seem to have a little bit of everything going on, both good and bad.

I never had enough trouble reading to be diagnosed as dyslexic as a child. However, the reason why is because my brother loved to read and I emulated him a lot as a child, so I worked hard to find out what the words meant. He showed me a thesaurus one time, and after reading many different sections in it, I had a map of word associations in my head that let me figure things out. At the same time, I have always had trouble with p, b, d, and 9... knowing which shape to write when. If I have a question to answer in multiple parts and it requires me to write out a, b, c, and d, I usually write the d as a b, even though I am determined to right it correctly!

Over the years, all these little problems added up to very mixed results. The teachers thought I was lazy because they could see I was so bright. I could give an answer to a math problem, but not do the work. I could think up a great story, but not write it down. I could make connections between events and topics that even my teachers had not seen or thought of until I pointed them out, but did only a bit above average in most class work. And I was never able to memorize random facts or even a poem in school.

When I weigh all that, and more, against the book, I see a piece of me in every description. Every problem, I have had a little of. Every ability, I have touched on. None are so strong and striking as the examples, but every last one is there.

It also strengthens some theories I have been developing about dyslexia. Your book shows how these things overlap, seem different, but are related and the same. That is something I have been looking at and exploring for the last couple years. There are learning disability specialists that insist that dyslexia is ONLY trouble reading, which seems to be them holding on to an outdated viewpoint. The modern research you present in the book and online, as well as things that others have shown elsewhere, all lead to things like genetics and the fMRI showing that dyslexia is a far broader set of results than just the one reading issue the term was originally used to describe.

I truly hope that your book helps bring that idea forward. Too many people seem to want to put dyslexia in a little box, wrap it with a bow, and set it aside as some sort of unfortunate but known issue. This book helps show that it can be an advantage, not just a problem. It brings out proof about how this is a basic difference in people that needs recognition in teaching forms and that it can be worked with, not against, to create great students out of those we previously packed away in that ribbon tied box. The more people that read it, the greater the chances that a fuller understanding of dyslexia will be public knowledge and that acceptance of these differences in people will become the norm rather than the exception.

Comment by Drs. Fernette and Brock Eide on December 17, 2011 at 11:18am

Wow Dave. Thanks for your amazing words. It's so great to hear what you've said.

Makes us redouble our efforts to get the word out. Just think of how many people are dissuaded from paths where they could really thrive and even transform.

Many thanks for your offer. Yes - would be great to get the message out to more people. Let us know if there's anything else we could be doing better here.

We would love to completely upend what people think of when they think of dyslexia. There is a tremendous need.

Comment by Dave Niebuhr on December 16, 2011 at 11:41am

I finally got through this book, and all I can say is Thank you!!! Thank you!!! Thank you!!! .. a million times. This was an incredible experience for me and soooo many things resonated with me, it felt like it was explaining my life. I didn’t find out until recently (age 31) that I was diagnosed with dyslexia in second grade by a panel of physiologist and teachers and displayed dyslexia traits strong enough that I should be placed in a special school. Due to the stigma around dyslexia, my parents didn’t believe in “crutches” so I struggled through regular school,  their teaching methods, and special ed classes (which I don’t think were equipped to help me and were horrible for kids picking on you) trying to hold onto a normal pace and majority times failing miserable (especially in grade school). Parts of this literally made me cry, and I can’t tell you how much “relief” this brings me in helping me understand why I am, how to grow, and actually being really happy about it.

 

Thankfully, career wise I ended up naturally gravitating toward my what I now know are my “I strengths”, and have a very successful career in SEO, data / trend analysis, and now contribute it largely to my dyslexia.

 

After reading ways to grow dyslexic children through no doubtfully the most difficult times of their lives, and the different methods for growing skills in reading, writing, comprehension (all the chapters after the MIND strengths) several things struck me pretty hard.

• I believe some of my other strengths were completely crushed, or never got the chance to develop, due to schooling in “their manner” etc.. and failing. Due to failing I don’t think I ever explored my potential in some of the other MIND strengths. I simply gave up and thought I was no good .. and would never be able to do it.
• I need to go back and try many of these methods on myself in learning phonics / and sentence structure .. as I struggle greatly with those, and it is relieving it might be less my ability and more the “training” I received.
• All the info on text to readers etc.. is amazing… I love learning new topics, understanding things, and broadening my perspective on the world .. however reading time has always been a big hindrance for me and turned me off from reading anything more than a magazine or a web article.. if I can find ways to consume content rapidly via text readers this will be life changing for me .. I am really excited to explore this.
• Most importantly I have a 1.5 year old daughter and another son on the way. I think it is too early to understand if they have dyslexia, but it is very strong on my side and slightly on my wife’s side. So we feel there is a good chance one of both might. I am now excited to nurture them. I know it won’t be easy, but I also know I can help give them a rich positive childhood in academics and full exploration of their strengths. Where prior I feared for them having the same experience as I had and come out of schooling with the necessary confidence to go get what they want in life.

 

So THANK YOU!!!

 

On a side note, I want to help in changing the general stigma around dyslexia. I professionally do search engine optimization, social strategies, and general online marketing. If at anytime someone in this community needs help / guidance on how to ensure these type of messages about dyslexia surface to the top in search engines (or use it as ways to bring awareness in the lack of organizations supporting this) please let me know. I would love to help, and make sure anyone “searching” for this info gets the correct info.

 

Thanks,

-Dave

Comment by Steve H on October 31, 2011 at 9:59pm

When is the second edition planned?

Comment by Drs. Fernette and Brock Eide on October 31, 2011 at 9:57pm

Woo hoo! Thanks, Jane!  This is so great to hear!

 

BTW, I was thinking we could share some of our experiences about writing the book...

 

When we interviewed Douglas Merrill (ex-Google Chief Information Officer), we expected to put him in our "Interconnected" chapter, but when he told us that he processed everything as a story, we put him in the "Narrative Thinking" chapter as well. We hadn't known that he had worked for Charles Schwab, it was neat to hear that he found that by working for him (they shared dyslexia) they shared a similar talent of being able to see the story arc - how things would change develop, what the end result would be, and what people would want. 

When we spoke with Matt Schneps at the Harvard Center for Astrophysics, we enjoyed hearing about how although he struggled with reading, he pushed himself to read through some of Einstein's works in physics with his dad (he had heard he might have dyslexia too). He was inspired by Einstein - and could related to his visualization and thought experiments.

 

One of the hardest things was having to leave so much out to keep the book from getting too long. Everyone we spoke to had such a heart for helping up and coming students with dyslexia. They knew how hard it is in school.

Comment by JayneC on October 25, 2011 at 10:48am

My daughter's teacher actually READ this book! She is changing her approach with her and adding keyboarding time!!! YEAH!!!! Thank you for writing this!!!

Every teacher should read it!!!

Comment by Drs. Fernette and Brock Eide on October 23, 2011 at 9:16am

FYI, there is an active discussion of The Dyslexic Advantage on The Well Trained Mind forum - many also share resources from homeschooling http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=318419

Comment by Drs. Fernette and Brock Eide on October 23, 2011 at 9:15am

Hi Marie, There have been attempts to quantitate 3D processing in standard neuropsychological exams - Johns Hopkins CTY (gifted program) uses a computer based Spatial Battery in the hopes of recognizing mental rotation talents  - but for example the 3d navigation maze test that showed dyslexics stronger than non-dyslexics was a test specially designed for the research question they wanted to study - and is not a commercially available psychology test.

Comment by CelticMom on October 10, 2011 at 6:57pm

Nothing can ever truly be straightfoward with dyslexia, can it? ;-)  But it does seem that between working memory & processing speed that processing speed is more likely to be on the lower side.

I also found interesting the idea of a difference between 2-D & 3-D visual/spatial processing. Can you give an example of a test that assesses 3-D processing?

Comment by Drs. Fernette and Brock Eide on October 10, 2011 at 1:08pm

The issue of working memory and ADHD in dyslexia is a complex one. The typical pattern for students we see with dyslexia using IQ tests like the WISC-IV or WAIS-IV is that the verbal and nonverbal scores are the highest (there are some variations of course - some stronger with spatial reasoning than others) and gifted range, working memory is average, and processing speed average or a little below average.

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